Olive Oil Promotes Satiety

Satiety is a feeling of fullness that can help you avoid snacking temptations and overeating. While high-fiber foods are most often cited for inducing this effect, a German study titled Perception of Fat Content and Regulating Satiety: An Approach to Developing Low-Fat Foodstuffs suggests that olive oil produces significant satiety not necessarily through consumption but with aroma.

Researchers had volunteers consume 500 grams of low-fat yoghurt daily. This yoghurt was supplemented with lard, butterfat, rapeseed oil or olive oil. After 3 months, subjects who got olive oil had higher levels of the satiety hormone serotonin and reported the greatest degree of satiety. Interestingly, none of these subjects gained body fat during the study.

True Strength Moment: A subsequent study performed by the same team found that using olive oil aroma extract produced similar results. They concluded that two compounds, Hexanal and E2-Hexenal, had the greatest impact on reducing glucose absorption in the liver. The speed of this absorption plays a key role in hunger. TIP: Italian olive oils contain the largest concentrations of these compounds.